Bastrop sheriff's deputy says tasing 'best course of action'

By Joshua Fechter :
July 22, 2014

AUSTIN — A Bastrop County sheriff's deputy who used a Taser on a high school student last year, resulting in a 52-day coma and brain damage for the student, told Texas Rangers that his actions were the best way to subdue the student.

Rivera was trying to break up a fight between two female students, one of which was his girlfriend, Rivera's lawyer told the Statesman.

McMillan said he considered using pepper spray but opted not to because of the presence of other students. Stalcup was preparing to use a baton.

"I felt the best course of action would be the Taser," McMillan said in a videotaped interview. "With pepper spray, there's just too many kids in there. I felt the Taser was the best way to get him under control."

The Taser caused Rivera to hit his head and incur brain damage, KVUE and the Statesman reported. Doctors later induced a coma from which Rivera awoke in February, CNN reported.

Rivera's family sued the school district and sheriff's department — and the FBI is conducting an investigation.

"What the deputies are trying to make this out to be is a lot more confrontational than it actually was, and it really hides the point, or doesn't address the point, that there was no need to Tase him," Loewy said. "There was no weapon, and he was not fighting anyone."

McMillan and his attorneys repeatedly declined requests for comment from KVUE and Statesman reporters, saying only that deputies violated no laws or departmental policies.